Distracting
by the-girl-who-dreamt
Summary: He wasn't sure what it was, but there was something very . . . distracting about her. /\ In which Robin reflects on his changing feelings for Starfire.


Distracting

Disclaimer: Teen Titans? Definitely not mine.

I need better titles. -_-

So hey, guys. I know I should be updating Domino Effect (_insert shameless plugging here :D_) but I was watching Stranded and Trouble in Tokyo the other day, and I just – gah, _all the feels, dudes_. Seriously, how can anyone not ship these two?

* * *

He wasn't sure what it was, but there was something very . . . _distracting_ about her. Just the other day, she'd walked into the ops room during breakfast and he'd found himself staring at her so avidly that he'd dropped his toast. Beast Boy and Cyborg had exchanged another one of those glances that he'd grown to detest; Raven didn't seem to notice (apparently, _Book of Azar_ was a positively enthralling read).

It was ridiculous, he knew, but it wasn't his fault. It was something that stirred in him only when he was with her.

There had always been an ache inside of him, that nauseating feeling of loneliness that no one can seem to fill, but with her, it was as if the hole never existed. He didn't know what it was about this girl that made him forget the darkness, but he liked it. There was just something infinitely open about her that pulled him – _everyone_ in.

They would get wrapped up in conversations about silly things – ordinary things like socks and glasses and things so perfectly normal and everyday that no human would ever think twice about them, but would bring that awe and childlike wonder in her eyes that he couldn't help but find endearing. There were evenings when he hung around after practice, hoping to talk to her, and she was always there, perhaps rambling about some strange Tamaranean tradition or asking about some Earth thing or another that he was more than happy to explain.

It seemed like they were always talking, at least one of them. Sometimes she would, and he'd just listen silently; sometimes it was the other way around. He felt a strange comfort with her when he talked about things that he didn't with anyone else.

When she would leave, he'd stare after her without realizing he was doing it, and Cyborg and Beast Boy would chuckle under their breath until he silenced them with a sharp glare.

Perhaps somebody who wasn't as thick as he was clearly saw that something was going on, but not him. All he knew was that he enjoyed her company – not in the way that he enjoyed his other teammates'. There was . . . something else when he was with her, something that made being with her different and even special. Something he couldn't explain. It made him feel wonderful and free, and at the same time tense and nervous and apprehensive and even if he carried on with this cheesiness he still wouldn't understand it.

And then . . . there's that smile.

That smile.

Damn, he had to shake himself for a moment there.

There's that smile. And that laugh. The way she would catch his eyes and look away, smiling, because they found something amusing. The way she threw her head back and laughed freely, emerald eyes shining, even when she didn't understand the joke or got the punch line. The way she glanced down at him when she was hovering overhead, her long mane of red hair flying around her (he thinks she looks beautiful when she flies and he just can't look away no matter how hard he tried – not that he's ever going to admit it to anyone).

He didn't know what it was, why his heart would give a funny stutter when she was there. Why he found himself looking forward to seeing her and why he sought her out for no reason at all. Why he was always keeping an extra eye on her during missions even when he knew that she was more than capable of looking after herself.

He wasn't sure if he wanted this, whatever it was he was feeling for her. He knew that he couldn't – _shouldn't_ – and that it was wrong to feel this way. But when he was with her, he didn't quite remember the consequences, and instead was able to focus quite nicely on what a lovely shade her hair was.

"Robin?" she'd ask him sometimes, when he drifted off into reveries that starred her, but also distracted him from what she was saying. "Please, friend, what are you thinking?"

He knew that he was just supposed to reply nothing, even if he hadn't been thinking of just nothing, but he had a new habit of saying unintentionally stupid things around her, so he'd respond, "I was just thinking about your hair."

And his brain would quickly catch up to what he said and they would both blush and look away. She'd say, "Oh" in a shy sort of way and he can't help but think about how pretty she looked as he tried to get his vocal chords to function properly.

She was just so damn distracting.

But slowly he came to need her and it scared him when they were apart.

He didn't expect it because she and he _meshed._ He was a pessimist and she was an optimist. He was guarded and she was trusting. He was jaded and she saw things through eyes so clear that he would have said it bordered on naiveté if he didn't know what she had gone through.

He needed her, and while perhaps she could do darn well without him, she showed the team that she wanted to care for him – _them_ and he cherished the belongingness she so willingly gave.

He knew it was stupid and ridiculous and he _really_ shouldn't be feeling this way, that he _shouldn't_ be thinking about her like this. It was stupid, stupid, _stupid_.

He was a hero – only a hero and nothing more. He couldn't be distracted, wasn't supposed to be distracted with things like this.

But then she would look at him with those eyes and that smile he's always loved and, really, how can he ever say no to her? He wonders – _hopes_ – if maybe that smile is especially for him and him alone and that maybe she cared for him just as much as he cared for her.

Yes, it was stupid.

Yes, he was ridiculous (she made him that way).

And yes, she was so very, _very_ distracting.

But he wouldn't change it for the world.

* * *

Not very happy with the last line. Oh gosh, that was one of the sappiest things I have ever written. Can't bring myself to change it, though.

This was way longer than I expected. Honestly, I meant for it to be a drabble. XD

Either way, I'm happy with it, so go ahead and tell me what you guys think. Good? Bad? _Meh_? Review and let me know!


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